Switzerland withdrawing bid to join EU

The Swiss parliament on Wednesday voted to officially withdraw the country’s dormant application to join the European Union, Politico.eu reports.
Following a vote in the lower house, the government will now tell the EU to “consider [the application] as withdrawn,” Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter was quoted as saying by the Neue Zürcher Zeitung.
Burkhalter had earlier said the application, which was sent to the European Economic Community in 1992, was already invalid.
In 1992, the Swiss rejected joining the European Economic Area, of which Iceland, Norway and Lichtenstein are members and have access to the EU single market.
At the time, the Swiss government backed EU membership, but Swiss voters rejected the EU bid months later. The application has remained dormant ever since.